My Externship Experience - Altus W. Hudson, II

Altus W. Hudson, II - Legal Aid of
Compton

I sat at my desk at
Legal Aid of Compton, fresh out of my first year of law school, feeling
confident about knowing how to recognize a contingent remainder or an offer and
acceptance, when my supervisor handed me my first case file and told me to get
to know the file because tomorrow I would have to interview the client. I was
sure that the "boot camp" for lawyers also called "first year law" had prepared
me well to handle the task of saving the world.

I opened the file
with all the anticipation of a child at Christmas time, seeking to ascertain
just what I could do to help save the world. To my amazement Scrooge had placed
a lump of coal in my stocking and reality told me that the world was not ready
to be saved. The file stated that an elderly veteran who had owned his home for
over 30 years was on the verge of losing it. The old "Vet" got into trouble when
professional scam artists convinced him to upgrade his electrical wiring and add
security bars to his home. They then inflated the price of the work, charged him
for work they never did, multiplied the cost by a very high finance rate and
multiplied that by 10 years, which created excessively high monthly payments.
They then told him to sign work releases which were really deeds of trust
enabling them to sell his home should he miss a payment. Well, the inevitable
happened, as they knew it would since the Vet was on a fixed income and could
not afford the payments. After reading the file I was completely prepared to
attack this problem from several directions and fully anticipating the client
interview.

I met the Vet at
his home because he was no longer able to get around. I was met by a tattered
old guy who mumbled incessantly about whatever came to his mind. Immediately he
displayed gestures of trust towards me. I knew then how he was such an easy
target for scam artists. He then began to explain to me in a very emotional way
that the house was the only thing he owned in the world. As he explained to me
his problem, he was on the verge of tears and I thought about how Pennoyer v.
Neff, Miranda v. Arizona nor anything else within the pages of a case
book could have prepared me for the emotional and human side of the law. But, I
was quickly brought back into focus by the sobering thought of this old guy
being preyed upon by professional vultures who use the loopholes in our system
to steal in a legal manner.

I told him not to
worry, and that we would help him with this problem. The thanks and appreciation
he expressed reminded me of the reasons I wanted to extern with Legal Aid. If it
were not for Legal Aid, he would not have had any place to turn. The law would
then be a play toy subject to the random manipulation of the elite. But, because
of Legal Aid, the Vet was well on his way to "restoring himself to the position"
he was in before this fraudulent contract took place. My externship at Legal Aid
of Compton was the fulfillment of a dream, in that I was helping to ensure that
people like this Veteran did not feel disenfranchised and locked out of our
legal system.

Note: Mr.
Hudson, a former Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney, is now with the law firm of
Kidd & Hudson.